533 Viet Fusion — Restaurant in Palm Springs

This exchange with the owners says it all:

Dear 533 Fusion Owners,

My sweetheart and I are new regular patients at Total Health (Dr. Bastion), your nearby neighbor, and that office recommended you to us.

We dined in-person on May 28 and carry out yesterday, June 4.

In-person the food was amazing, particularly my beef bowl with the perfectly cooked filet mignon, medium rare. That visit alone would have garnered you a 5-star Yelp and Google review.

But, sadly, yesterday’s carry out order – two beef bowls – proved to have very over-cooked beef, really undermining our enjoyment. And as we live way over at Sun City Palm Desert, bringing them back to your location wasn’t feasible.

So, rather than write a review yet, I thought I’d reach out to you and ask if there’s some way you can make up yesterday’s disappointment to us?

Their response:

Hi, We are sorry to hear your take out was not satisfactory. Please note that food is always best when served in house, not just with us but everywhere, fries get soggy, pasta gets clumped, etc. You stated you drove to Palm Desert which is about a half hour drive, which alters the temperature and essence of the dishes. We would like you to keep enjoying our food and would like to offer you a round of drinks on us, and consider dining in house for our dishes to be enjoyed as the chef prepares them. Thank you 533 Viet Fusion

And mine:

If your food cannot survive local transport, you shouldn’t sell it as carry-out. You basically just admitted your carry-out was likely to not taste good unless you live very close. There was absolutely nothing in our half-hour drive to Palm Desert that would have turned a medium-rare steak into well-done steak. Yes, meat cooks a little after coming off the grill – but not THAT much.

This is going to be an interesting review to write and we’ll vote with our wallets, you’ve lost us a regular customers after...

Zero stars if that was an option, what an exceptionally horrifying experience. First off, chose this location because of the proximity to where I'm staying and where my appointment was to be later that evening. I showed up to a fairly busy restaurant, sure, and I get seated at the bar. My order was taken immediately, and that's where it went downhill, it took almost an 45 mins for my food to be served to be while I watched people who came in later get served, complete their meals and leave before I even saw my food. During that entire time I was only served ONE glass of water, I flagged the server down multiple times only to be ignored, flagged the kitchen staff who were filling water glasses only to be ignored, spoke Spanish to them and they looked at me like I crazy and walked away with the water jug. So I had to eat my meal without any water. I receive this kind of service for a $34.90 entree. Sure. Let's forget that I had an appointment that I missed because by the time I was done eating (10mins) I had to spend another 15 mins flagging down the server for the check. Only when I finally gestured that I wanted the check did my server finally care to grace me with his presence. That process takes So I missed my appointment. Whatever. I go back to my hotel and at 7am, 14 hours after I ate at this joke of a restaurant, i started puking and having absolutely horrible diarrhea that did not stop for 13 hours. I went to the ER and had my stool tested and it was positive for NOROVIRUS. I obviously contracted it from this restaurant, I had a busy day of travel and work and missed breakfast and lunch that day. What a sad place it is that the owner does not ensure their kitchen staff washes their hands before handling food. Because we all know how NOROVIRUS is spread. I've filed a complaint with riverside county environmental health department. This place needs to...

I literally just walked out of dinner here so I wanted to write a review. I picked this place so I could get some vegan eats and my meat-eating family could find something to satisfy their palettes, as well. The menu is large and the dishes are all a tad pricey (upwards of $11, as high as $28) for a fast casual style dive like this but the food was delicious. My family ordered the chicken wings, fried green beans* (yummy but $11 for a side dish portion? Come on!), bahn mi sandwich, salmon, fried chicken, and they were all good and flavorful. I at first ordered the work fired Japanese eggplant* and the waiter asked if I wanted tofu with that so I said yes. He said the dish would be $3 more if I wanted to add rice but I thought it would be hearty enough as is. I was mistaken because my family got all of the above dishes in normal sized portions but mine came in a tiny bowl. I then ordered the soba noodle salad* and that was good, subtle in flavor, but a modest portion that doesn't fare well as a meal entree on it's own. I appreciate the restaurant offering a vegetarian page in their menu but all of the vegetarian dishes (indicated above with *) appeared to be significantly smaller so keep that in mind if you order vegetarian. Though, let me also give them props from having a large amount of gluten free offerings. It's not common to find vegetarian (most are vegan, too) and gluten free on the same menu! The waiters were all male so that was a bit odd. My waiter in particular gave the impression that we weren't the kind of guests he wanted to serve. A bit snooty. Still, I'm generally satisfied with the food and quick meal to table service enough that I...